SPEAKING FOR BRITAIN
Whereas in its title, its constitution, its ritual and its mythography the Labour party proclaims itself to be a class party, the Conservative party, despite being far more dominated by the middle and upper class than is the Labour party by the working class, has always chosen to regard itself as the national party, the party of the Union Jack, the party of One Nation.' The Labour party, admittedly to its growing embarrassment, concludes its conference by singing the Red Flag;' the Conservative conference begins and ends with the National Anthem. The Conservative party needs to attract a certain amount of working-class support if it is to succeed at general elections, much as the Labour party needs to contain among its leaders a considerable number of middle-class people if it is to convince the public — including many of its own working-class supporters — that it is fit to govern.
There is little doubt that over the years since the end of the first world war and the collapse of the Liberal party, the Conservative party has succeeded in convincing people that it is the patriotic party. Despite the great achievement of the first Attlee administration, the Labour party has been less successful in convincing people that it can govern. Except for the Attlee and Wilson periods, the country has shown itself prepared, if not happy, to be governed conservatively for the last fifty. years. The Labour party has been unable to become other than the party of alternative government, brought in when the Conservative party is tired and the people want a change.
Mr Wilson sought, and still seeks, a central position from which, by conciliating the middle class, he would be able to turn the Labour party into the natural governing party of the country. Mr Heath is now seen to be the radical leader risking the loss of the central position, putting in jeopardy the Conservative party's great asset, which is the popular belief that it is the national, the patriotic party, the party which speaks for Britain. It is a magnificent gamble; and it might succeed. But the fact remains that, by taking the EEC gamble, Mr Heath has allowed — deliberately — Mr Wilson and the Labour party to occupy the central position, and to become the party which speaks for Britain.
There are plenty of people within the Labour party's middle-class intellectuals, and not a few in its farthest left extremities, who will deplore the position now occupied by the Labour party. They are not used to their party speaking for Britain, and they do not like it. Their sense of propriety is outraged in proportion as their sense of patriotism is dulled. They prefer to use the language of classes rather than the language of nations. They aspire to an ' internationalism ' which corresponds neither to the realities of foreign relations nor to the aspirations of the working class they claim to represent and the middle class to which they usually belong. They speak for themselves. They are used to speaking for themselves. They are entitled to speak for no one but themselves. They represent no one but themselves, and no interest whatever. They are important, and weighty, only insofar as they believe themselves and are believed to be important and weighty. We respect their principles for what they are worth, no less, no more.
There will also be people within the Conservative party who dislike, or distrust, the present posture of Mr Wilson and the great majority of his party. Such people find it difficult if not impossible to believe that any party but their own, and any leader but their own, is entitled to speak for the nation. It is not that they mind politicians speaking for the nation; it is that they think such speaking may only decently be done by Tories. Such people are the equivalent within the Conservative party of the Europeans within the Labour party. Both groups are noisy, and lack real political weight, either of judgement or of influence.
The public, however, has never found it particularly difficult to imagine Mr Wilson speaking for the nation; and at the most crucial days in the past it has been prepared, if necessary, to turn to Labour. It may be that Mr Heath's judgement of the true interests of the nation, and of its true mood, is better than Mr Wilson's; and in this case the Heathian gamble might yet succeed. It is certainly the case that Mr Wilson has, in the past, looked better .than he does at present; as it is also the case that Mr Heath has never looked so good as he does now. But, whether we like it or not, it remains also the case that, as far as the country at large is concerned, Mr Wilson shabby still looks better than Mr Heath smart : and this, despite the most prodigious efforts of the propagandists and publicists to make Mr Wilson look very shabby indeed, and Mr Heath very very smart. Mr Heath may sail for Britain and wear the Union Jack on his sweater; but when the two leaders speak, thus far it has been Mr Wilson who has spoken for Britain.
At this time, at this curious juncture in our history where the country has been brought to a threshold for reasons it does not understand, where it is being pushed into a leap into the dark for reasons unknown to it, where it is baffled and unhappy and distrustful, where it gropes for the reassurance of familiar tones, it is — so far — Mr Wilson who expresses its mind, who speaks for it. Over the past few months, while he has been moving into a position of opposition to the Government's European policy, no one would pretend that Mr Wilson has shown himself to particular advantage. Mr Heath, for his part, has sometimes seemed in contrast to be a knight in shining armour. But it is the leader of the Labour party, not of the Tory party, who has been putting himself into a position where the people are with him, and he is with the people. There is nothing shameful about a politician adopting, or manoeuvring himself into, such a position, providing he does not misuse it to lead the people upon a wild crusade or to their Armageddon.
We may be gateful to Mr Wilson for ensuring that the leader of one of our two great parties is able to express the country's majority opinion upon the great matter with which Mr Heath is determined to confront it. It would, in the long run, have been disastrous had neither of our two parties expressed that majority view; for then, assuredly, would politics and politicians have been brought into utter contempt. Whether that majority opinion be right or wrong, it needs expression; and whether Mr Heath's European policy is right or wrong, it needs to be opposed by those who are not ashamed to be, and to be seen to be, speaking for Britain.
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